Roots of Irish Christmas run deep

Christmas in Ireland has its serious, religious side, but also has its fun side, according to a native.

William Hearne moved to the United States with his wife and four children in 1991 when he found a job at the Northeastern Power Co. cogeneration plant near McAdoo. His wife, Nora, has worked at St. Luke Pavilion for 12 years.

"It's just that I got work here, the kids liked it so much at the time so we stayed," Hearne said.

Hearne, 61, said he and his family still celebrate Christmas pretty much the way they did in Ireland.

"It's still more of a religious festival than the commercial thing that it is here," said Hearne. "It's more of a family event than presents. The church had a more important role in our lives then."

The reason the Hearnes feel so at home in America is that a lot of their traditions are here.

"A lot of the traditions you identify here as American or European are basically old Irish or English traditions," Hearne said.

"Mistletoe, holly, and candles in the window are all old Irish traditions. The candle in the window symbolizes to show Mary and Joseph their way. They (Irish) don't have like the Italians have the three fish supper on Christmas Eve. At Christmas Eve, they always set the table for strangers (to symbolize) Mary and Joseph looking for shelter."

But there are some traditions that are unique. As many ethnic celebrations distinguish themselves by food, so does the Irish tradition.

Included in those food items is Christmas pudding, which is a fruit cake. There is also Christmas cake.

"The marzipan Christmas cake is an old Catholic tradition to symbolize the end of the year," Hearne said. "In old times, they had prizes in the cakes, like a stick, a ring, a pea or a rag that symbolized different things. It is soaked in whiskey, and you light the cake. Most of the whiskey burns off, so the cake is OK for the kids. It's a fun thing at Christmas."

Hearne explained when the cake was cut, if one of the objects appeared in someone's cake, there was a significance.

"If a girl got a stick, that symbolized her husband was bound to abuse her, beat her," he said. "If you got a rag, you were destined to be poor. If you got the ring, you were going to marry well. And the pea meant poverty."

The cake is a special symbol to Hearne's family, especially his mother.

"She religiously bakes," Hearne said of his mother. "She's 86, and bakes one for everyone. She actually sends them out here to me, even though I got the recipe and we could make it ourselves. She's a great cook, and it's a tradition with her."

The fun stuff

"Everything around Christmas in Europe is more about pranksters and practical jokes," Hearne said. "That comes from the old festivals. At that time of the year, at the end of the year, they had festivals where people played tricks on one another."

Christmas Crackers are Irish firecrackers Hearne still gets from an Irish catalogue.

"The crackers are two handles of cloth with a cardboard insert in the middle, and there's a prize," he said. "When you pull it apart, you give one handle to the other person across, and you pull them. It bangs like a firecracker, and the prize falls out."

"There's a paper hat in all of them," Nora said. "So we're all wearing paper hats."

But Hearne said the major difference between Ireland and America is St. Stephen's Day, the day after Christmas, which is a tradition a lot like Halloween.

"You have semblance of it here in Philadelphia with the Mummers," Hearne said. "They have their parade on New Year's Day. In England, they have it on St. Stephen's Day. He was one of the first martyrs of the church. It's an old pagan tradition worked into Christian theology because he was betrayed.

"The wren is a small bird, and it's supposed to be a treacherous animal. The kids still go out and kill or capture a wren, and go around to each house and put the bird on a pole," Hearne said. "They all dress up in old clothes and rags, and collect money and sing songs for the neighbors. Then they have a party afterward. This tradition goes way back. People don't know why it started. It's an old agricultural tradition. When I was a kid, we used to do it, just for fun."

The children in Ireland, he said, also sang a song:

"The wren, the wren, the king of all birds

"St. Stephens Day was caught in the furze

"Up with the kettle, down with the pan

"Give us a penny and let us be off"

"You'd knock at the door and ring then bell. If no one came out, you'd start banging the doors with holly balls. If the came out, they would give you candy or money, and you sang a song for them, and then you left," he said.

The Christmas celebration in Ireland continues through the Feast of the Epiphany a week later.

"You don't take your decorations down until Jan. 6, the Feast of the Epiphany," Hearne said. "That's called Little Women's Christmas. For the day, the women do nothing. The husbands do everything in the house, and the women go out that night for drinks and dinner. It's like a women's night out. My wife and her relatives always did that. It's good because there are a lot of cousins you don't get to see one another all year."

"The woman work so hard to get ready for Christmas that that is their holiday," Nora added.

"I'm sure women here would like to hear that," William said.

Another fun thing around Christmas in Ireland is pantomimes.

"Theatrical companies would put on shows like 'Jack and the Beanstalk' or 'Red Riding Hood,' but it would be more of a joke," William said.

"The schools are closed for two weeks at Christmastime, to give them time to go to the pantomimes," Nora said.

jdino@standardspeaker.com

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